More and more companies and customers are looking to reduce the environmental impact of pest control treatments. This has increased interest in bioinsecticides and other low-impact solutions that can complement traditional integrated pest management strategies.
However, it is important to avoid a common misconception: bioinsecticides do not generally replace conventional biocides. Their effectiveness depends on the target species, the development stage, environmental conditions and the availability of authorised products for each application.
Their true value appears when they are integrated into a professional strategy based on inspection, prevention, monitoring and the selection of the most appropriate treatment for each situation.
What Are Bioinsecticides?
Bioinsecticides are products designed to control insects through microorganisms, substances of natural origin or specific biological mechanisms.
They may include:
- Microorganisms such as bacteria or fungi.
- Biochemical substances and pheromones.
- Plant extracts with insecticidal activity.
- Compounds obtained from living organisms.
Their main advantage is their high specificity against certain pests, although this same characteristic limits their use to very specific situations.
It is also important to remember that a bioinsecticide is still subject to biocidal product regulations. It must be authorised for the intended use and applied according to the conditions established by current legislation.
At the same time, the European regulatory framework provides for certain avenues that may facilitate the authorisation of substances considered to pose a lower risk, including simplified procedures or specific conditions for certain products and active substances. This may encourage the development and gradual introduction of alternatives of natural origin or with a more favourable environmental profile compared with certain conventional solutions.
Low-Impact Solutions: Much More Than Bioinsecticides
Reducing the environmental impact of a service does not depend solely on the product used.
A low-impact strategy may also include:
- Preventive and corrective measures.
- Sealing access points and eliminating harbourage areas.
- Proper waste management and cleaning.
- Traps and physical methods.
- Monitoring systems and IoT.
- Pheromones and attractants.
- Localised applications using baits or gels.
Integrated Pest Management aims precisely to combine all these tools in order to intervene only when necessary and with the lowest possible impact.
Main Advantages
When used correctly, bioinsecticides can provide important benefits:
- Greater specificity against the target pest.
- Lower exposure for people and non-target species in certain environments.
- Integration into preventive programmes.
- Diversification of control methods.
- Compatibility with some customers’ environmental policies.
However, their effectiveness always depends on correct pest identification and suitable application conditions.
Their Limitations
Bioinsecticides are not a universal solution.
Their main limitations include:
- They act on very specific species or biological stages.
- Some require more time to produce results.
- Their effectiveness depends on factors such as temperature, humidity or solar radiation.
- In some cases, they have lower persistence.
- An authorised product is not always available for every situation.
- They require a very precise technical diagnosis.
For this reason, in severe infestations, situations involving health risks or cases where immediate action is required, conventional biocides remain an essential tool.
When Can They Be Especially Useful?
There are situations where these solutions can provide differential value.
For example:
- Larval control of mosquitoes using Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), once breeding sites have been identified.
- Preventative programmes in hospitals, educational establishments or the food industry.
- Interventions in environments where the aim is to minimise the impact on people, non-target organisms or the environment.
- Clients with particularly stringent environmental or sustainability policies.
In all cases, they must be integrated into a complete pest management strategy and should not be used as the only control measure.
The Importance of Monitoring and Traceability
Sustainability also requires demonstrating that the measures taken are effective and maintaining a rigorous working methodology, as in any professional pest control programme.
It is therefore essential to record:
- The species identified.
- The level of activity.
- The product used.
- The batch and quantity applied.
- The conditions observed.
- The evolution of the pest.
- The decisions made during each inspection.
Smart traps and IoT devices make this task easier by providing continuous information on pest activity, allowing incidents to be detected earlier, treatment effectiveness to be assessed and decisions to be made on when an intervention is truly necessary.
A specialised platform such as iGEO ERP Cloud Platform makes it possible to integrate all this information into a single system, connecting products, work orders, control points, material consumption and technical reports. This makes it possible to compare treatments, justify the decisions taken and provide complete service traceability.
New Lines of Innovation in Biological Control
The evolution of bioinsecticides is not limited to the emergence of new substances of natural origin. Research is moving towards more specific, stable solutions adapted to the real conditions of each service.
Among the areas with the greatest potential are:
- The development of new microbial strains targeting specific species and stages.
- Improved formulations to increase stability and persistence.
- The use of entomopathogenic fungi and other microorganisms in specific treatments.
- Biological strategies applied to the control of mosquitoes and other vectors.
- The combination of bioinsecticides with traps, baits, physical methods and preventive measures.
- The use of sensors, IoT devices and activity histories to decide when and where to intervene.
This last area is especially relevant. Continuous monitoring makes it possible to detect outbreaks at early stages, evaluate the evolution of activity and select treatments more accurately. In this way, biological solutions are no longer applied as isolated alternatives, but become part of data-driven control programmes.
The future therefore points towards more selective and personalised treatments, where technology helps determine the most appropriate combination of prevention, monitoring, biological control and conventional biocides for each facility.
Conclusion
Bioinsecticides represent a highly valuable tool within professional pest control, but they should be understood as one option within an Integrated Pest Management strategy.
Sustainability does not mean automatically replacing one product with another. It means combining prevention, monitoring, physical methods, biological solutions and conventional biocides when they are necessary.
The combination of technologies such as IoT, continuous monitoring and specialised platforms like iGEO also makes it possible to assess results more accurately, optimise interventions and provide a more efficient, traceable service adapted to each customer’s needs.
